Second to last element of Thracian army - 3Ax like most units of I/48. I'm a little tired of painting Thracians to be honest. Most of elements is very similar, there are only few variants of miniatures and one of the designs in my box has strongly disfigured face. Well, Thracian army is almost finished fortunately, last element is being painted right now (3Ax of course;)). Gauls next, with some "other projects" sometimes.

Trying to broad my gaming horizons I bought "Cold War Commander". Potential Cold War conflict between WARPAC and NATO always fascinated me... I've always liked Clancy's vision of this conflict from "Red Storm Rising", dozens of soviet tanks driving through German plains... Terrible sight in reality, for sure, but what wargaming potential. The only set of rules from this era I bought before are very old WRG ones back from 70. I chose CWC thanks to reviews - I was looking for something relatively simple, for a start anyway. I'm still reading rulebook and some forums but so far I rather like it. If someone has any GHQ WARPAC miniatures for sale please leave a comment, maybe we can strike a deal;)

Some time ago I bought a mosquito net for window in my "workshop". Insects are trying to fly into the house when I paint late in the evenings. After window was secured there was a lot of unused net still in my hands. I noticed that this net has very small openings and I thought about making some pieces of chain link fences for modern games like Ambush Alley. Poles are made from toothpicks, they are glued on to the mdf board with white glue. When the base with poles was ready I glued on net cutted earlier to the right dimensions. Then all what was left to do was painting and basing. Size of the chain link fence is just right for 28 mm scale - it looks right like the ordinary chain link fences we are seeing everyday. For 15 and 20 mm it is just about right for a high perimeter chain link fence of "important military installation". After the fence was ready I came to the conclusion that some things can be made better. First, I will paint net with watered down white glue first before cutting next - mosquito net is very elastic and hard to cut, so it will make cutting right shape easier. Second, mdf base is too thick I have to find some base which will not warp and is thinner.

14th issue of "Kolekcja wozów bojowych" will describe American armoured infantry carrier M1126 Stryker and his versions. Diecast model of this vehicle will be added to the issue. Finally some armoured support for my Americans.

Clean desk is really important. As Germans say "ordnung must sein". If work desk isn't properly cleaned off on regular basis, suprises will happen. During cleaning my desk where I paint (huge piles of paints necessary for long finished miniatures, old brushes, some trash, etc.) I found forgotten bag with 2 psiloi from macedonian army. This was forgotten by me, optional 2Ps element. I couldn't do anything but paint them as soon as possible:)

Command element 3 Cav (Gen) of Thracian army is ready. There were some problems with it. First, when I tried to correct slightly unrealistic pose of arms holding sword, using oldest known to me conversion method i.e. by twisting metal with fingers ;), I broke one arm. I hate this, gluing all this together is almost impossible, there are always some situations where such broken off parts will break off again. Well, I drilled small holes in arm and sword hand, put small diameter wire inside and glued this together. I couldn't properly align both holes, parts were too small, so final result is somewhat unrealistic and arm is a little longer then before. Painting was easy, I used color plate from Thracian Osprey as a reference. My chieftains are Gets, they have a long sleeved colourful jackets of this tribe. Armor of polished bronze scales, painted - atypically for me - in gold paint (Shining Gold and Burnished Gold), I wanted to achieve shining, polished look. After miniatures were ready and glued to the base I noticed some problems. First, while gluing sand, I managed to smear glue on side of the horse. When I noticed that it was stone hard already. Well, 10 minutes of carefull wiping and it was clean again. Then, after making photos, I noticed that when I drybrushed base, I painted ugly smears of mud on white horse side too. I had to repaint this horse...

Thracian army is more or less ready. Only two elements left are 3Ax, they are optional (instead of 2LH) but I don't think I will use them anytime soon. Still, will paint them before starting Gaul army.

Small cardboard box contains ready made DBA II/11 Gallic 400 BC - 500 army deal. Miniatures manufactured by Spanish producer Corvus Belli cover all options for this army - not that there are many of them;). As with ready made army deals by Xyston, miniatures are sorted by groups of elements and packed in small plastic zip bags. Box is layered with foam. I think that even rough handling in transport won't break anything inside. My miniatures weren't damaged at all. Most of miniatures have significant flash but it is rather easy to remove due to softness of metal. Miniatures are slightly smaller then Xyston's Thracians and Macedonians. Sculpture is good, details are crisp, faces are very nice, hair, moustaches and muscles are well defined. Contrary to Xystons all CB's miniatures are casted with pole weapons - it makes some of them to look strange, poses are not natural. Removing original spears and remaking them is not an option, one would have to rebuild some muscles and cloaks and final effect would not be - in my opinion - noticably better. There are a lot of different poses between all miniatures, men and horses. Some warrior miniatures are cast "en face" and they nicely represent running and charging Gauls. Light chariots are very nicely done, they are delicate and "in scale" with rest of the miniatures. Poses of all chariot crews are different. One of the chariot is optional 2LCh (Gen) element and it shows - chieftain is easily recognizable. Another optional command element 3/4Wb (Gen) is easily recognizable too - warriors carry standards, they look like nobles, etc. Most numerous miniatures will belong to eight 3Wb elements.

I think that these figures will require substantial amount of cleaning and preparing but they will look very nice on the table once painted.

Terrible heat, I don't have any desire to pain, it's too hot. To not waste time totally I begin to think about my future plans regarding painting miniatures and playing. First, I will make Gaul II/11 DBA army, Corvus Belli deal this time. It was bought as a match to my brother's Later Carthaginian II/32. Next we would like to buy two next armies - Later Crusades IV/17 for my bro and Ayyubid Egyptian IV/20 (Saladin!) for myself. Both of these will be bought from Legio Heroica. Last DBA army I think about is Norse Viking and Leidang III/40 - Baueda Wargames probably. What else? Modern - Ambush Alley rules, modern Americans contra rebels and terrorists from Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. 20 mm scale but I will switch to metal miniatures probably. I think about Wild West too - Indians, cowboys, bandidts, Mexicans, american cavalry. Nothing is certaing here except scale - both miniatures and games - 28 mm and skirmish. Next idea is a little crazy. I follow great blog Geektactica, author plays nice gothic horror game called Chaos in Carpathia. I'm thinking about buying these rules, some miniatures are certainly around from my old RPG times.

Little side projects - more napoleonic ships in 1:1250, II WW in air (free Sturmovik Commander rules and some miniatures from Polish Company Oddział Ósmy). Last but not least reading new Warhammer rulebook brought some nice memories. I'm feeling strong calling of Chaos... Chaos Warriors look so nice;)

(All miniatures pictures in this entry are from their manufacters pages).

...long awaited by me - I couldn't bring myself to paint them during one session. Look of theirs is a result of few shorter "meetings with brushes". Heat, work and some other activities didn't left much time for painting. I just only hope that final look of this element is not very different from other units in my Thracian army. Still waiting to be painted are two last 3Ax elements and 3Cav(Gen), which will be started later today.

13th issue of "Kolekcja wozów bojowych" magazine will cover construction and usage one of the variants of famous StuG III assault gun - assault howitzer StuH 42. Diecast model of this vehicle (showing one of the StuHs fightning in the Ardennes offensive) will be attached to the magazine.

All quiet here - I'm slowly painting next element of Thracian 3Ax, things are going slowly though as I have urgent commision from my work and I play a little in a closed beta of "World of Tanks". I just HAVE to say I'm spellbound. This game is great for all pvp lovers and tanks maniacs. It's not a simulator of armoured warfare, it is closer to mix of Call of Duty and Battlefield - but with tanks instead soldiers. And it is just great. There is a lot of options for customisation and fine tuning your vehicles, thanks to gained experience one can buy better tanks, tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery pieces, our crews gain experience too. I truly recommend it for anyone with beta access. More information about this game can be seen here. Final release will be free with microtransactions probably. Great fun!

My modern Americans got transport and support vehicle. I didn't have much time yesterday due to my work, I only managed to make base for this diecast Dragon model of M1114 HMMWV with TOW launcher. When I examined him I decided to use it "as it is" - so no painting, no weathering and no changes here. This is ready, out of the box model. I don't like heavy weathering and dusting, laying layers upon layers of mud and dirt on models to be honest, so delicate weathering of this HMMWV suits me fine. I have two more HMMWV, by Amercom, they are waiting they turn. I hope to "arm" them with machine gun mounts. I wonder if there are any "minimodels" of such mounts in 1:72.

My modern Americans got new friends, painting was exactly the same like before. I studied more photos of real soldiers this time and - unfortunately - Caesar's set is not that good as I thought before. All soldiers wear gas-mask pouch on the leg - extremaly rare since about 2005, they were common sight during II Gulf War. All miniatures have buttpacks too - same situation, very rare in last few years. Helmets have strange shape - they are Advanced Combat Helmets (ACUs) probably - but shape of theirs is rather odd on some miniatures. I miss soldiers with eye protection on too. Last but not least are weapons. They are poorly modeled in this set - "Modern US Army (with desert equipment). It seems they are more artistic vision of M4/M16 then representation of true rifles. There are some good things too - plenty of nicely detailed gear and very lifelike poses on most figures.

I have growing problem with titles of blognotes, Thracia, Thracia, Thracia all over. Well, this problem will solve itself soon, for a time being at least. Sixth element of Thracian 3Ax is ready, deadly rhompai-users this time. And again I assumed that element compromises of poor Thracians, so tunics are plain and ornamentations on cloak and shields minimal. Base is temporary probably. I noticed day before yesterday that bases of many elements of my macedonian army and some of thracian have warped. It seems dried PVA glue and thin plasticard don't go so well together. Thanks to advises of "Strategie" forum users I will buy machine cut mdf bases, they don't warp presumably. So it is quite probable I will have to base Macedonians and Thracians again.

Thracian army is slowly approaching the final stage of painting. I have to paint just 3 more elements of 3Ax and one command element of 3Cav. If anything unpredictable won't happen I should finish this army in the middle of the next week. I spoke yesterday with a friend of mine, he asked me why I use such toned down colors. Answer is simple - I like natural, realistic, "washed down" colors, as they could be millenia ago. That's why I try to not overuse rich reds, yellows, etc. Such colors and pigments were known then of course - but they were rather expensive, especially in such backward places like ancient Thracia. Unit above is painted accordingly - natural leathers, some rare more vivid parts. Designs on shields and cloak are historical albeit a little simplified. Small detail on the shield of the middle javelinman shows that he and his companions were already in battle...

Result of painting of last two days - final element 2LH for Thracian army is ready. This unit was real pleasure to paint, probably due to chosen colors and paints, very pigment rich and with good coverage over black undercoat. Cloaks' ornaments fictional, shield designs historical. I decided to "forge" some ornaments because miniatures' cloaks are pleated - ornaments would not be visibile and mine designs are visible no matter what:) Next element in line is another 3Ax unit.